captions by: caption colorado comments@captioncolorado.com the number two men on the tickets face off in their only debate of the campaign. can biden and ryan change a very tight race? reports from jan crawford and nancy cordes. new numbers today show an improvement in the foreclosure crisis. anthony mason tells us what this means for the economy. officials say the pharmacy linked to that deadly outbreak of meningitis was operating illegally. dr. jon lapook has the latest. and elaine quijano on a debt america can never fully repay. owed to this hometown hero. >> this is awesome. okay? ( cheers ) yeah. . captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening.

tonight's face-off between vice than vit joe biden and congressman paul ryan is getting a lot more attention than vice presidential debates usually get. the obama campaign is looking to biden to stop the momentum mitt , mney has enjoyed since the debate in denver, which governor romney was widely perceived to job is . ling.s job is to keep romney's al gallu rolling. today's national gallup poll of likely voters shows governor romney with a slender lead of one point over the president. of course, that's within the lly a tie.error so it's essentially a tie. tonight's debate is at centre college in danville, kentucky. nancy cordes and jan crawford danville. first we'll go to nancy, covering the vice president's campaign. nancy. >> reporter: scott the vice president arrived here in kentucky today after several days of intense preparation in his home state of delaware and several people there with him veld us the president's weak performance in his own debate didn't so much change the

ndrategy as raise the stakes and they say the vice president is very well aware he needs to have a better night than the president did. tu recall when the president was preparing for his own debate, he called it a drag. clear thacampaign is making it very clear that the vice president enjoyed his preparation, enjoys debating. they even released the vice nedsident and what we learned one of six full-scale 90 minute hey'reebates. and, scott, here's why they're t isful. they say the vice president is at ld pro at this. he more than held his own in s in ts in the democratic primaries four years ago, and in his debate against sarah palin. >> pelley: well, nancy, that old roo will be facing a debate rookie on the national stage. jan crawford is covering paul ryan. jan. l, reporter: well, scott, paul ryan, as he has been reminding everyone, has never done this kind of national debate before. he said yesterday it was kind of such anus situation because the vice president is such an experienced debater. his aides tell me they think tched moll come out firing.

ofey've watched more than a dozen of the vice president's byt debates. they say they were impressed by ht thacus and his discipline. and they tell me tonight that ryan's challenge is to stay on his own message, show his own discipline and not take the vice president's bait. now, ryan has said he believes cee vice president's achilles' heel is the president's record. so you can expect to see him try to prosecute that record tonight. ryan is a numbers guy. he's a policy wonk. he is not lacking in confidence. in fact, this afternoon, he released his own photo on the debate stage on a walk-through saying, "let's get this done." so even though he hasn't done this kind of debate, scott, d member, he's done hundreds of and towws and town halls and meetings, all defending that complex budget plan of his for year the better of the last two years. cb pelley: jan, thank you. cbs news live coverage of the easteresidential debate begins right here at 9:00 eastern time come dat is 6:00 in the west. e stelection will come down, of -uurse, to nine states that are toss-ups today and will tip the

balance on election night. tonight, we have new polling from three of them. in virginia, our quinnipiac university/cbs news/"new york times" poll finds the president's lead up a point, 51% to 46%. .n colorado, the lead has flipped. consin, ney now ahead 48% to 47. and in wisconsin, home state of paul ryan, the president's lead has been cut in half. it is now 50% to 47%. dean reynolds is in another of the swing states, north carolina, with more about our poll tonight. dean. >> reporter: scott, governor romney has just finished speaking here at a big rally in ashville, north carolina, riding rising republican enthusiasm over this tightening race. pull awapoll today helps to explain why neither candidate seems able to pull away. ( applause ) in colorado, romney moved slightly ahead, benefiting from fstrong debate.

voters gave him a 72%-16% margin y his performance. u to geed you to go out and find do shbors who voted for barack obama to come and join our team. >> reporter: 19% of voters in colorado say they're less likely 26 vote for the president because of the debate. while 26% say they're more likely to vote for romney. >> are you going to go to volleyball? >> reporter: liz payne of denver responded to our poll. >> rep she was leaning towards romney before the debate and now she's dential de >> presidential debates definitely made me more likely to vote for romney because of the confidence he instilled. i felt like he had better answ answers. and definitely just really appeared much more presidential than than president obama did. >> r >> reporter: on the plus side for the president, 40% of s econom voters believe their state's economy is improving. mlf say mr. obama would be more helpful to the middle class. in the race for virginia's 13 electoral votes, the president is holding his lead.

49% believe the president has clearly explained his plans compared to 34% for romney. independent arnold grunderman of ing towaeld, virginia, is leaning toward the president but done whervations. >> i think that he's done what he possibly can, although he's been hamstrung by a congress egat refuses to compromise and pass legislation. but sometimes i think he hasn't year forceful enough. >> after running for more than a year in which he called himself severely conservative, mitt at he is trying to convince you that he was severely kidding. >> reporter: dishonesty has been a postdebate democratic line of ontack against romney. now 47% of likely voters in utrginia see romney as honest and trustworthy, but 59% say that about the president. rveyedt among the voters we surveyed, on the question of which candidate has stronger leadership qualities, the answer, scott, was mitt romney.

>> pelley: dean, thank you very much. there was good news for the nesident's hopes today. in a new report that shows home foreclosures are down 16% down twide, down to the lowest level in five years. brighter news except for one state. anthony mason talked to a homeowner there. rt reporter: 73-year-old 1sephine graham's florida house is in foreclosure. n thiswhole life since 1990 has been in this place. >> reporter: graham, a home health care worker, fell behind in her payments after two hurricanes damaged her house, recessiorecession cut back her work hours. her home's now valued at about $80,000. n twicaham owes more than twice that. >> i >> i would like to be in this house, but if they come, my car is big enough for me to move into. >> reporter: florida now leads hee nation in foreclosures, but slowly, across the country, the

picture is improving. the 180,000 foreclosure filings reported in september are less than half the 367,000 that were reported at the peak of the crisis in march of 2010. and realty track's darin bloomquist says the end is now bl in sight. >> 2014 is the first we're we could expect to see the numbers return to anywhere close to >> repor -- amoorter: another encouraging sign-- among homeowners refi refinancing this year, 81% are getting new loans at the same or lower balances. in 2006, 88% were refinancing to get bigger loans with a higher balance, which means homeowners are paying down their debt. but millions, like josephine draham, are still struggling. >> i keep hoping i will win the lottery, but that's a dream. from hoping that money will come from somewhere, and that's a dream.

i wish the mortgage people would drop dead, but that is also a dream. lty trorter: realty track estimates that 12 million homeowners are still underwater. that is, they owe more than pelley:mes are now worth. >> pelley: brutal. >> reporter: yeah. >> pelley: anthony, we saw some news today, some modestly improved news on jobs. let's show the folks at home. the number of people claiming jobless benefits for the first at's a dro39,000. lat's a drop of 30,000. it's the lowest in more than we r years. how do you explain that drop? how much should we read into it? >> reporter: well, it's a sharp drop and even the labor enpartment said today there may firome distortions to the seasonal adjustments in there. a better barometer is the four- week moving average, that fell to 364,000 first-time claims. that's the lowest in six months and that's an encouraging number. >> pelley: we got word today from the for centers for disease control that about 14,000 people may have received the tainted

steroid shots that sometimes led to meningitis. ateho has become the 11th state to report an infection. ses anare now 170 cases and 14 people have died. we asked dr. jon lapook to look into that massachusetts pharmacy saat appears to be the source of the contaminated drugs. >> reporter: the new england compounding center, necc, shipped more than 17,000 vials of the single drug to 23 states. today, dr. madeleine biondolillo, the safety director of the massachusetts department was not operating as far as the investigation has seen so far in accordance with the massachusetts licensing regulation. that is because massachusetts law says compounding pharmacies, which mix custom-made medicines, must have a prescription for every patient for each dose they send out. it appears necc shipped the tainted violation of steroid to medical facilities in bulk without these prescriptions. >> today, government health officials acknowledge there is a

regulatory gap when it comes to compounding pharmacies. for instance, massachusetts does not have the authority to track how many violation of a drug are produced at the federal level, the food and drug administration does not have clear authority to examine records in a compounding pharmacy. the f.d.a. is seeking more authority. pharmacist eric kastango served on a panel creating federal safety standards for the compounding pharmacy industry. who is minding the store in terms of regulation? >> the f.d.a. has worked very hard over the last several years to try to promulgate regulations to clearly define when does a compounding pharmacy exceed its authority and become a manufacturer under the purview of the f.d.a. >> reporter: the cdc has found so far the main fungus responsible for the meningitis is called exserohilum. this organism has never been found to cause meningitis before and a panel of infectious disease experts has been called in to figure out how to diagnose and treat it. >> pelley: a still-developing n.ory, john. thank you very much. changspect in the colorado

reeater massacre changes his appearance again. we know more now about the condition of that 14-year-old ters?ist shot by the taliban. our oce's killing the oysters? it's an early warning on a disturbing change in our oceans. nten the cbs evening news t whitening strips 2 hour whitening kit is proven to quickly remove surface stains and deep stains in just two hours. [ female announcer ] rembrandt® deeply white™: whiten in just 2 hours.

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>> pelley: in colorado today,

prosecutors added 14 counts of attempted murder to the charges against james holmes. he now faces 152 counts in all in that movie theater massacre back in july that left 12 dead and 58 wounded. barry petersen is at the courthouse in centennial, colorado. barry. >> reporter: well, scott, there were more changes in holmes' appearance today. do still has the short-cut hair , t now he has big, bushy sideburns, what are called shyton chops. he was attentive, and for the first time since i have seen him he actually talked to his attorney during the hearing. daniee attorney daniel king said even four months into the case, as he put it, we have not begun to understand the nature and depth of mr. holmes' mental illness. this is the second time the 'efense has referred to holmes' mental illness, but there was no suggestion that would be his defense. d r that, he would need a psychiatric evaluation that could take six months. and now there is concern from both prosecution and the defense about about the well-being of witnesses, including dr. lynne

atnton, the psychiatrist holmes saw when he was a student at the university of colorado. macause her name has been made pearanceincluding her appearance at a hearing in august, prosecutors say she hasn't been tion has ave at home. this investigation has already generated close to 20,000 documents, but witnesses are still being interviewed and evidence analyzed and the case could reach an extraordinary tens to hundreds of thousands more documents. both sides say they're going to need a lot more time to deal with all of this information. the judge will decide later this month about postponing a hearing perhaps until early next year. earing to ng to decide if there is enough evidence to go to old yo girllley: barry, thank you. we told you last night about ta that 14-year-old pakistani girl who was shot in the head by the taliban. foray, she was flown to a military hospital. malala yousufzai was famous for speaking out in support of education for girls. she was a celebrity, really.

er schools why islamic ertremists stopped her school ans and shot her. candlelight marches were held in ion,stani cities. malala is in critical condition, but we're told that she's able to move her arms and legs slightly. risk fromay be at risk from the very ocean they call home. that's next. optimal health: s t your in every bottle you get the number one doctor and pharmacist recommended, most complete multivitamin backed by thirty years of science. try centrum® silver. visit centrum-dot-com for your three dollar coupon. that was me... the day i learned i had to start insulin for my type 2 diabetes. me... thinking my only option was the vial and syringe dad used. and me... discovering once-daily levemir® flexpen. flexpen® is prefilled. doesn't need refrigeration for up to 42 days. no drawing from a vial. dial the exact dose. inject by pushing a button. flexpen® is insulin delivery...

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harvest will be the smallest in six years. bych of the crop has been damaged by drought. another kind of crop also dependent on water is being threatened by changes in the environment. and john blackstone tells us about that. >> reporter: on the shores of washington state's olympic peninsula, bill dewey is a farmer, a shellfish farmer. he's been raising oysters, clams, and muscles for 30 years. >> i'm in shellfish heaven. it is just a gift of nature. mpsthe hatchery pumps in seawater to nurture baby oysters, this looks like dark igter when you first look at it but in fact there are 20 million baby oysters in this little tank in front of us here. >> >> reporter: but suddenly the ocean water is preventing new oysters from forming shells. they die. >> it dissolves the shells of of oysters. >> reporter: they're very vulnerable. ibed theibed the die-off to hundreds of scientists in

monterey, california. they call is ocean -terification, and with google, produced a globe showing the long-term impact. the deepening red illustrates the expected rise in ocean acid levels over the next three centuries. what is turning the oceans to acid is carbon dioxide from cars and factories. 30% of co2 released into the atmosphere is absorbed by the oceans. oysters are the first victims. >> we are the canaries in the y,al mine, so to speak. >> reporter: at the hatchery, the sea water pumped in is now constantly monitored so the le intakes can be closed when acid levels rise. ns getvitably, as the ocean to have ns get worse, we're not going to have a choice. we're only going to have bad water so we need to figure out how to work with it. m reporter: for now, the hatchery can manage acid levels, but in nature, millions and millions of baby oysters are an hainrtant part of the food chain

that is now threatened by ocean that is acidification. >> so if you start dissolving and destroying these, there are other bigger fish that get affect because they don't have .ood to eat any more. much corter: there is now so mospherebon dioxide in the atmosphere, that scientists say acid levels in the ocean will keep rising for 50 years, even ely.missions are cut immediately. john john blackstone, cbs news, quilcene, washington. >> pelley: astronomers tell us they have discovered a planet that they believe is largely made out of diamond. it is in our galaxy, the milky way, about 230 trillion miles amon earth. ehe surface temperature there is nearly 4,000 degrees. a hero's journey came full circle with a few steps on a football field. his story is next. d

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for recipes, plus a valuable coupon. campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do. >> pelley: seemelley: the excitement of friday night lights may seem a world apart from the one sofields of afghanistan but ier one soldier, a trip back to o reclai school football field was a first step to reclaim his nefe. oming gauijano was there. >> reporter: the homecoming game gan, alwr, michigan, always draws a big crowd. but this year was special. meey welcomed home one of their favorite football stars, a man

who went on to become army staff sergeant travis mills. >> this is awesome. okay. ( cheers ) eerseah. >> reporter: mills was on his n afghtour in afghanistan. in april, a bomb exploded beneath him. >> i set my bag down, about five, six seconds later i woke up on the ground. >> mill's 6'3" 250-pound body bore the brunt of the blast. two other men were wounded. shut up dic came up and i said you get away from me. go see my men and let me go. is told me to shut up and let mam do his job. >> reporter: he woke up at a military hospital in germany four days later. april 14, you turned 25 years old. >> yup. >> reporter: and you're told you don't have any arms or legs. what what goes through your mind? howi thought of my soldiers how they were doing and i guess i ins ducking my wife's phone calls because i felt embarrassed. i didn't want to talk to

anybody. >> reporter: what were you embarrassed about? >> i knew the possibility of getting hit was there and i thought when i got hit i felt like a horrible person and must have done something wrong in life and i was getting paid back for it but that's not it. >> reporter: he's been on andring at walter reed national military center for six months. er's learning to use four rnosthetic limbs and do things ce routinene, like feeding his daughter chloe. >> that was a good one! >> reporter: what's it like being back in your home town. >> it was great. ! drove into town and i couldn't believe the yellow ribbons and >> the signs, welcome home, travis. >> reporter: more than 6,000 people lined main street to honor mills, and his wife, kelsey. at, verything i was going through and all that, my sideiful wife stood by my side the whole time. so i want to thank her real quick. ( applause ) >> reporter: mills heard plenty of cheers when he played on this field in high school but never like this.

du is still on active duty and hopes to one day train soldiers at fort bragg. >> this is not the end of my life, especially having a one- year-old there. she'll never see me give up or fail. i mean, she'll see me fall down, but i'll get back up and i'm just going to keep going. >> reporter: this isn't how is lifsergeant travis mills fe he is gis life, but it is a life he is grateful to have. elaine quijano, cbs news, vassar, michigan. >> and that is the cbs evening news for tonight. we will be right back at 6:00 o'clock with live coverage of the vice presidential debate. for all of us at cbs news, all around the world, i am scott pelley, see you in a minute. captioned by captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org ,,,,

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